Trail Blazers Blog

Dewhurst’s documentary about his father focuses on D Day exploits

Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, currently running a hotly-contested campaign for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison, has released a 9 1/2 minute excerpt from a documentary about his father, a highly decorated World War II pilot who flew dozens of missions over Europe.

The short film, a sleek mixture of archival footage, interviews with veterans who knew him, and shots of Dewhurst and his brother Gene on location in France and England, traces their father’s wartime exploits. The focus is on Utah Beach, the western flank of the Allied landing on June 6, 1944 — D Day — when his father was a lead pilot on the bombing runs against the Germans.

Dewhurst was 3 years old when his father was killed by a drunk driver, leaving his mother to raise 2 boys on a legal secretary’s salary. Dewhurst, who has said he has little memory of his father beyond being told to settle down, is visibly moved at one point in the film as he recounts finding physical evidence of his father’s wartime contribution in the Utah Beach Museum.

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The blog for the Dallas Morning News politics team tracks Dallas Fort Worth area, Texas and national campaigns.